Marathon Done - The review

There it is, done and over.  My goal of getting fit and running a marathon is complete. 

Yesterday I ran the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon and clocked a chip time of 3:48:08.  All in all a solid result for me as I was hoping for a best case of 3:45 and a goal of 4:00 at least.

My last Marathon, the 1994 Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, which was, incidentally, the same marathon the Oprah Winfrey ran in, I ran a 4:01. 

At the Marine Corp I was fairly disappointed.  I was the slowest guy in the group who went down to run it, the RMC Biathlon team.  And I felt miserable afterward, and couldn't train for a month.  That 1 extra minute has haunted me for a very long time.

Over the years I've come to the realization that I am really not that good of a runner although I could be better if I had focused on it, and become average, instead of just below average.

But I do know that running beats me into shape, physically, and, it's fairly cheap and portable.  So as you likely know, last year, actually about 13 or 14 months ago I made up my mind to start running and use the marathon as a goal event to keep me motivated.

Overall I'm happy with my fitness.  One injury that took out 2 weeks of training and caused endless aggravation, and then the snip snip down under that took out another 2 weeks of training, meant that I could have gotten to the start line with a little bit more in the tank.

So what happened?

For those who know me, I am not a morning person. I'm usually cranky and suffer from massive sleep inertia that makes me virtually immovable.  Fortunately my wife is an unstoppable force, and not almost.

But I woke up feeling great.  Had a bottle of water and a peanut butter sandwich, and we were out the door, driving downtown with one eye towards the weather.

We were then robbed blind by paying $20 for parking, albeit fairly close to the start.

The start was like any other race you've been to.  Throngs of people lined up to use the limited number of port-a-potties.  In fact, by the time we got through that line and made our way over to the start area, we could hear the national anthem being sung, and no real idea about where the corrals were.

The gun went off, and we, along with about 1500 other people were still outside the start area, nervously pushing our way in, trying to look for the pace rabbits we hoped to keep up with.

It turned out to be fine however as we squeezed in to the stream of people and began the shuffle towards the start line, hoping beyond hope that my watch wouldn't mess up and my footpod wouldn't die like it had so many times before.

It turned out that the watch was fine, and the speed of the crowd was just about right for the first couple of kilometers.

In actuality the run itself was pretty uneventful. My wife and I ran together for the first 10 km, and, like the rookies we are, ran too fast basically at a 3:40 pace or a smidge faster.

I went ahead at 10 km. 

For me the first half was awesome, I was running in control, heart rate normal, no aches, no pains.  For a few kilometers I thought that something magical was going to happen. I was going to shatter my 3:45 goal and kick in the last 10 km and be completely in awe of my own abilities.

And then things started to slide.

At 26 km, just after the very tedious section through Toronto's spectacularly grey industrial waterfront, I felt myself starting to slow.  Maybe it was too much fluids, or the wonky second gel I took that was all liquidy. I told myself that I would save the push for the last 5 km.

When I hit 30 km I could feel parts of my legs becoming fatigued. But I was still running at a 3:45 pace and I had about 4 minutes in hand.

One of the big advertised features of this race was supposed to be running through the "Beach" neighborhood.  But those rolling hills hammered me. That street, I swear, goes on forever.

By 32 km it was just guts, wishing that the km would come faster than they were.  My legs felt like cement.

My slowest Km was km 38 where I ran a 6:28 min/km pace.  Which, funny enough, is my default, long run, taking it easy pace. 

At this point I was getting passed quite a bit, by people more sensible than me, but I consoled myself that all the people around me had really nice looking legs.

I had to walk 3 times, mainly due to lack of willpower.  But each time, the fact that it hurt as much to walk as it did run, caused me to resume the jog.

At km 38 I have completely given up any illusions that I was going to be able to kick for the finish at all.  40km, came and went without a reaction.

With about 1 km to go two 3:50 pace rabbits passed me.  I dug in and held pace with them, my legs mere shadows of the appendages they had been a few hours ago.  With 300 m, one of the rabbits, gave me a gentle push in the back, said something, and I hammered it out.  Stopping my watch at 3:48

I am looking forward to seeing my finishing photo, because at that point I'm shattered.  My legs were screaming as I wandered to the food tent, medal around my neck and all of a sudden very very cold.

Incidentally, I finished along with about 5000 people walking the 5 km. And I ask you: Why in gods name do you need to swarm the food tent when you've just walked 5 km? Being bumped and jostled by walkers, who would do that distance while shopping in their local mega-mall, did not make me happy.

Today, my legs are as sore as the last time I did this. That is to say painful to the point of not being able to walk up stairs.  But this time I think I'll be back up and running in a week or so. I have hope.

Stats from the run

• 783rd "gun time" out of 2919
• 3:52:18 "gun time"
• Average pace 5:31 min/km 
• 3:48:08.5 Chiptime 
• 97th out of 292 in my age group
• 10 km - 52:28
• 21.1 km - 1:49:31
• 30 km - 2:36:54
• 35 km - 3:04:36
• 40 km - 3:35:04

And here's the fancy graph.

So now it's on to other things, and a more well rounded training plan.  Upcoming major goals are:

• Gatineau Loppet Ski Marathon in February
• Around the Bay 30 km in the Spring
• The Hilly Hundred 260km version next September (website down? does it still exist?)
• 375 km bike ride Toronto to Smiths Falls next Summer

In closing, here is my personal list of things you shouldn't say to someone getting ready for a marathon.

• "Are you doing the 5 km?"
• "Be careful, don't hurt yourself"
• "You're getting old, you're not 23 anymore"
• "You need to eat, you're too skinny"

I'll post pictures later.

Comments

[NJ]

You are awesome! That was a great post . . . I had a hard time 'splaining why I was laughing about the "snip snip down under" comment!

[NJ]

oops, omitted the Zach after "splainin"!

[T]

Way to go Rob!